


after the con

by Squiped_Mew



Series: The Tales of Team OMEN (in anachronic order) [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kinda, Mercury Black is true chaotic neutral, Missing Scene, Misunderstandings, Oscar Pine Needs a Hug, Out of Character, Ozpin is gone, Post-Volume 7 (RWBY), Qrow Branwen Needs a Hug, Ruby Rose is doing her best, Running Away, Team OMEN AU, Team as Family, Vacuo (RWBY), gonna be honest with yall, i mean like theres an arc but its told out of order so, kinda??, team OMEN just supresses the trauma with food and thinly veiled snipes at each other, the series has anachronic order in the title for a reason gamers, they all do, villain AU, why is that not a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26646733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squiped_Mew/pseuds/Squiped_Mew
Summary: “...We… were tricked.” Blake finally admitted, sounding just as burnt out as Ruby felt.“Tricked?!” Jaune exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. “CONNED is more like it! They ran in circles around us!”“It seems the blueprint’s proximity alarms going off was all part of their plan too.” Ren mumbled, eyes fixed on the floor. “We played right into their hands.”It made sense why Team OMEN did what they did. But still… using his very existence as a distraction? And knowing it would work?Ruby felt like she should be more angry at Oscar, but at the same time, she was just kind of happy to see him, even if he did end up pulling a fast one and stealing the blueprints they worked so hard to protect.(OR: What happens after a night that goes well for one team, and poorly for others.)
Relationships: Emerald Sustrai & Neopolitan, Mercury Black & Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black & Neopolitan, Mercury Black & Oscar Pine, Neopolitan & Oscar Pine, Oscar Pine & Emerald Sustrai, Oscar Pine & Salem, Ozpin & Oscar Pine, Qrow Branwen & Oscar Pine, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Series: The Tales of Team OMEN (in anachronic order) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938709
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	after the con

**Author's Note:**

> Oscar: Some people commit crimes??? To cope???
> 
> I write + draw more about this on my tumblr: https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/

Everyone was doing their best not to look Headmaster Theodore in the face, but no one was doing a very good job. 

After what had happened at the charity ball, he had summoned all of them, save for Qrow, who went after the intruders, to his office for a stern talking to. Sitting in one of the smaller chairs in front of his desk, Ruby couldn’t help but feel guilty seeing the normally so jolly man looking so angry. And defeated. ...Dangry? Was that a word?

“So.” He said, tone cold as steel and arms crossed. “Does someone care to tell me what happened?” 

“...We… were tricked.” Blake finally admitted, sounding just as burnt out as Ruby felt. 

“Tricked?!” Jaune exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. “CONNED is more like it! They ran in circles around us!”

“It seems the blueprint’s proximity alarms going off was all part of their plan too.” Ren mumbled, eyes fixed on the floor. “We played right into their hands.”

It all made too much sense. The mysterious veiled triplets at the ball, the blackouts the night before, even…  _ his  _ appearance - it was all a red herring. All to distract team RWBY from the real problem at hand. And by the time they did notice, the Vacuo catacomb blueprints, along with blueprints for the machines Theodore had been working on - were gone. 

It made sense why Team OMEN did what they did. But still… using his very existence as a distraction? And knowing it would work? 

  
  


(Ruby felt like she should be more angry at Oscar, but at the same time, she was just kind of happy to see him, even if he did end up pulling a fast one and stealing the blueprints they worked so hard to protect.)

  
  


“Conned or not, they still got the catacomb blueprints.” Theodore sighed, leaning back in his chair. “The thing we tried so hard to protect - the thing that we KNOW Salem is after - poof! Gone! Goodbye forever!” Theodore put his head in his hands, anger seeping from his body, replaced with tiredness. “This is a disaster.”

“...Is there anything we can do?” Weiss asked tentatively. 

“...What you can do is get out of my damn office. I have a mess to clean up.” And with that, all seven of them were escorted out, Theodore slamming the door loudly behind them. 

“...That went well.” Nora snarked, brushing dust off of her dress, still tattered from the skirmish at the party. 

  
  


There was an awkward silence.

  
  


“AUGGHH!” Everyone jumped, turning to see Yang throwing her hands up to the ceiling, eyes a stark shade of red. “After ALL of that, those - those ASSHOLES still got away with it?!” 

“Yang -” Blake started, but Yang cut her off.

“We should have DONE more!” She yelled, kicking the ground. “Instead of just standing there like morons!”

“We got taken off guard.” Weiss replied. “These things happen, Yang.”

“But - but not by HIM!” And there was the elephant in the room. Everyone went silent at the mention of Oscar. 

It was still a bit of a sore subject to bring up. While what exactly happened to him after he was taken by the Nevermore Grimm, seeing him on the other side of the battle field, fighting alongside Salem was still… a shock. And not to mention what was under the mask…

Ruby had thought they could work together again after the battle at Vale, where she had used her silver eyes on him by accident to bring him back to his senses - but after a few weeks, he had run away again, with only a brief note saying he was going to get the rest of his team and not to worry. It had been a full three months since then. The whole team, though no one said it out loud, thought Oscar was dead. 

It would seem, he was not.

  
  


The rest of his team was obvious. When three of Salem’s enforcers were captured at Vale, with oddly no resistance, Ruby should have guessed something was up. But only now, remembering the news about prisoners mysteriously disappearing, and the three people standing by his side, did she put two and two together. 

  
  


The only question she had now was: who was he working with?

  
  


“...I thought he was better now.” Nora muttered. 

“Well, I guess not.” Yang huffed, leaning back against the wall. “I thought he was only with Salem because he was under the influence of… whatever THAT was -” Team RWBY shuddered at the memory, “But I guess he just REALLY likes betraying his team.”

“Maybe he’s not with Salem?” Ruby piped up.

Ren shrugged. “What other reason would he have to steal the catacomb blueprints?”

  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  


“Neo.” 

No response. 

“Oi, Neo.” Emerald waved her hand in front of Neo’s face to get her attention. “You gonna have some ramen?”

_ Not right now. _ Neo signed, going back to studying the documents they had stolen.  _ Working.  _

“Dude, you like, never eat.” Mercury piped up, shoveling noodles into his mouth. “You ever wonder why you’re so short?” And one didn’t need to know sign language to interpret the gesture Neo flashed Mercury. 

“I can’t eat anymore…” Oscar pushed away the large bowl of noodles in front of him to the center of the table, head flopping down onto the wood. “I’m gonna explode.”

“Well duh,” Emerald remarked, looking at all the cleared bowls in awe. “You ate, like, four things of ramen!”

“You gonna eat the rest of that?” Mercury piped up, pointing at the half-eaten bowl in front of Oscar.

“...Not r-” Mercury didn’t wait for him to finish, yanking the bowl over to his side.

“And you’re on your FIFTH!” Emerald exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Mercury. “We’re not exactly the richest people around, how do you think we can pay for this?!”

“Yeah, it’s not like we can mooch off of Hazel anymore.” Oscar mumbled, face still down on the table. 

_ Relax. I have, like, three bank accounts.  _ Neo signed.  _ And all of them are  _ _ loaded _ _.  _

“Is it your cash?”

_ … _

“...Neo.” Oscar said, lifting his head up. “Is it. Your cash?”

_ It’s mine now.  _

“You people are unbelievable sometimes. And hey -” Oscar yanked the bowl out of Mercury’s hands. “I’m gonna eat that later, don’t take it.”

Emerald sighed. “Why do you people eat so much?”

“I’m a growing kid! I need all the food I can get!”

“Please,” Mercury snarked. “We all know you’re never gonna get over five foot four.”

“Hey, five foot four is a very respectable height, screw you!” Emerald and Mercury visibly snorted at that, and Oscar huffed, taking a big bite of his ramen. “You people are so mean. And hey - Merc, you got like, an extra three inches on you because of your legs.”

“Hey, I take what I can get. No way am I gonna be part of the ‘five foot four and under club’” 

_ I prefer the term ‘short king’, _ Neo signed, and now it was Oscar’s turn to snort, which quickly turned into coughing, as some of the ramen’s broth had gone up his nose.

  
  


“...So,” Emerald started as everyone calmed down. “Neo. What’s the blueprints say?”

_ A lotta mumbo jumbo.  _ Neo remarked, moving the bowls out of the way so she could spread them out on the table. _ These catacombs are obviously pretty old, and go a lot of places. If Salem found out about it, she could very easily sneak her guys in.  _

“Or Grimm.” Mercury added. 

“Well, depends on if they fit or not.” Oscar replied. 

“Guys, focus.” Emerald remarked, before turning back to Neo. “Anything else?

_ Well, the catacombs themselves aren’t the biggest threat, _ Neo remarked, pointing to a few red spots on the blueprints.  _ You could probably block them off pretty easily - except for the fact that a few well placed explosions in key areas would be enough to level all of Vacuo. _

“What?!” Emerald and Oscar said at the same time. Mercury frowned, brow crinkling. 

“What good would that do her?”

_ Well, besides throwing her biggest military threat into potential chaos, she could very well also pin the blame on someone else.  _

“Like what Tyrian did to Ironwood back in Atlas?” Emerald asked, ignoring Oscar cringing, picking the wood on the table. (He didn’t care to remember Atlas) “With the murders?”

_ Yeah, exactly like that. _ Neo replied. _ I could find more stable areas to plant traps and stuff, but the problem is, most of the blueprint is encoded.  _

“You’re kidding.” Emerald deadpanned. 

_ No Em, I never kid _ . Neo shot back, rolling the blueprint back up.  _ A lot of the specifics are in runes that I can’t read - probably pretty old ones.  _

“Wow.” Mercury remarked, rolling his eyes. “I wonder who on  _ earth  _ would be paranoid enough to encode decades old blueprints about ancient catacombs that you’d probably have to be pretty old to know even existed, in runes that are probably even older than the catacombs??”

  
  


Oscar continued picking wood splinters off the table until he noticed everyone was staring at him. “...What’d I do?” He asked. 

  
  


“So like - do you know if Ozpin wrote this?” Mercury bluntly stated. 

“Me?” Oscar asked. When everyone nodded, he frowned, reaching for the blueprint. “I dunno - let me see.” 

Looking at the blueprints, Oscar could feel the faint twinge of a memory in the back of his head - like a phantom pain of where a leg once was. “I think so.” He declared after a minute. “I don’t think I can translate this though.”

“Dammit.” Emerald huffed, leaning back in her chair. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I almost wish that bespectacled bastard was here.” She paused, before quickly adding; “No offense, of course.”

“None taken.” Oscar said dryly. 

_ Okay, wizard related trauma aside _ , Neo interrupted,  _ You think we’d be able to find out what kind of runes these are at say, a library? _

“Well, the other headmasters would have to be able to decode it themselves, so presumably.” Mercury remarked. 

  
  


When everyone stared at him, he shrugged. “What? Just because I’m the meathead of the team, doesn’t mean that I’m stupid.”

“No, you  _ are  _ stupid.” Emerald smirked. “I’m just shocked something intelligent came out of your mouth for once.”   


“Ouch, I’m wounded.” Mercury dramatically flopped out of his chair, and Emerald snickered. 

_ You guys are gross. _ Neo signed, rolling her eyes.  _ I’m going to bed, I’ve got a headache.  _ With that, she stood, stretched, and headed down the small apartment to her tiny room. 

“Good job today!” Oscar shouted after her. Neo flashed him a thumbs-up.

  
  


“We should probably head to bed too.” Emerald remarked after a moment. “We’ll figure this rune thing out in the morning.” 

“You're NOT making me go to bed right now, it’s too early, I swear-” Emerald hauled up Mercury by the elbows, and started dragging him down the hall, which was pretty impressive considering the extra weight added by his metal legs. “It is twelve AM - I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!”

“You smell, go take a shower!”

“Don’t tell me what to do, you’re not my mom!”

  
  


When the door shut behind the two of them, Oscar exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding, turning to face the balcony, and the sliding glass doors that led to it. Shutting the curtains, he let his mind wander. 

Three months had gone by, and he already felt like a completely different person.

They were a good three months, mind you. Around the rest of Team OMEN, Oscar honestly felt… more free, despite the fact that the police were kinda sorta already on their backs. It felt more casual, honestly. They didn’t see him as ‘Oscar, the kid who used to have Ozpin in his head, tried to kill us, and now looks really weird.’ They saw him as ‘Oscar, the kid who eats a shitton of food every time we go out to eat and also comes up with the plans somewhat.’

That and their… time working with Salem, had kind of bonded the four of them, who otherwise had nothing in common, together. And without that, none of them had anywhere else to go. They were outcasts. Runaways. Criminals. But here? 

Well, they were still outcasts, runaways, and criminals, but now they had CONFIDENCE, to some extent. 

  
  
  


However, that doesn’t stop Oscar from thinking about what could have been at night, sometimes. About Team RWBY, JNR, Qrow. 

  
  


...Could he have saved their friendship?

Could he have found a spot on the team?

Or was there never a friendship in the first place? Was the only reason they kept him around because of Ozpin?

He  _ had  _ made peace with the third (and in all honesty, most likely) answer. Ozpin was someone they knew, and he was why he joined their group in the first place. Without Ozpin, there wasn’t really much of a reason for him to stick around either. That, combined with the… incident, and of course his relationship with the group was going to implode. That’s just how it was. There was no need to be sad about it. 

(That, of course, didn’t stop the sad longing for what could have been, in the dead of the night when he’s alone.)

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  


Oscar was awoken by a thud on the balcony door. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up, feet sliding from the couch to the cold floor. 

Another thud. 

“Gods…” Half-asleep, he stumbled over to the door, brushing gray hair from his face. “What is that?”

  
  


Opening the door, he got a blast of the cold desert air, blowing into his face. Blinking, Oscar looked around, staring at the dingy neighborhood their apartment overlooked. The lights of the city blurred together, and he blinked to clear his bleary vision. 

There was a bird on the balcony, flopped over on it’s side. Black feathers were strewn around, a few on the doorframe, a small trail of blood as well. Oscar acutely remembered then, something he had read once - that birds can’t see glass. 

“Hey little guy.” Oscar murmured, scooping the bird up. “Did you fly into the window?”

Was he imagining it, or did the bird give him a look? What kind of bird was it anyways? A raven? A crow?

_ Wait... a crow -?! _

  
  


And in a swish of black, Qrow Branwen fell onto the balcony, nose bleeding. Oscar jumped back as if he was tazed, knocking the table over, and there was just generally a lot of noise. 

  
  


“Don’t -” Qrow huffed, wiping the blood off his nose. “Don’t call me ‘little guy.’”

“Qrow?!” Oscar exclaimed. “What are you -?” Then, all the tension drained from his shoulders, realizing what happened last night (technically this night but it was like one, sue him). “Look - I can get my sword, but like, I don’t really want to do this right now?” Oscar grumbled, shoving his hands into his pajama pants pockets to stave off the cold. “Can you just go away?”

“I’m not here to fight, kid.” Qrow said, brushing himself off. “I just wanted to talk.” 

“...Talk?” Well, this was a strange change of pace for him and Qrow’s encounters, but whatever. “...Fine. I’m still gonna get my sword though, so don’t try anything funny.”

Inside, he picked up Kalte Rache, studying his reflection in the red blade. He looked… pensive? Worried. Certainly not the confident and snarky mastermind of a robbery that he looked like last night. 

Oh how the tables have tabled. Or however the saying goes.

  
  
  


* * *

“What do you want.” Oscar grumbled, shutting the door behind him. “My time is very valuable, you know.”

“Kid, you were sleeping.”

“Exactly!” 

“Whatever.” Qrow propped the table back up, sitting on top of it. “Like I said, I just wanted to talk.”

Oscar scowled, crossing his arms. “Fine. But you put Hairbringer on the other side of the balcony.”

“You really think I’m gonna attack you like that?”

“I have no reason to believe you wouldn’t.” Qrow looked almost… stung by that, and Oscar almost regretted his words, biting his lip. “I’ll… put my sword over there too, if that makes you feel better.”

“Fine.” The two of them propped up their respective weapons against the railing, and sat down, Qrow on the table, and Oscar on the wooden floor. In the pale moonlight, Qrow was cast in a silhouette, and the light glinted off the silver clover pin he wore on his chest.

“If you’re going to try and convince me to give Mr. Theo the blueprints back, then no dice.” Oscar started, but stopped when Qrow held up his hand. 

“Believe me kid, I’m not stupid enough to try talking you out of this.” Qrow sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “I know when you decide to do something, there’s no stopping you.” 

“...Cool.” An awkward pause. “So… why DID you come here anyways?” 

“...I wanted to know why.”   
  


“Huh?”

Qrow turned to look at Oscar, red eyes filled with not quite pity - sympathy? Annoyance? “You’re not an idiot. Ozpin or not, I know you’d never go back to Salem willingly.” Oscar didn’t answer, crossing his arms protectively at the memory of Her. “So MY question is - if you’re not with Salem, then why’d you steal the catacomb blueprints?”

Oscar arched an eyebrow. “How do you know I’m not with Salem?” He asked. “You’ve got no guarantee.” 

“...I’m willing to give you the benefit of a doubt.”

“Wow, thanks.” Oscar replied dryly, looking away. “But anyways, what’s it to you?”

“I’m assuming there’s a good reason.” Qrow replied. “You’re not the type of person who’d just do something like this for funzies.” 

“...Fair.” And despite all of his bravado, Oscar still winced when Qrow hit it right on the mark. “But it’s none of your business.”

“I’m a Huntsman. I’d argue it IS my business.”

They were quiet for another second. 

“...You can’t tell anyone this.” Qrow looked up at Oscar, who was still refusing to look at the taller man. “I have no guarantee that this information won’t get you killed.”

“...What is it?” Qrow asked.

Oscar paused, inhaling. 

“There’s a mole.”

“A what?”

“A mole.” Oscar said again, shoving his hands in his pockets. “In the Vacuo council. A mole for Salem.”

“...You mean like Leo-”

“Yeah.” Oscar cut Qrow off. “Like that.”

“Is it Theodore?”

  
“No clue. It could be anyone, really.” Oscar leaned over the railing, wind in his face. “We’ve got no idea who it is, and if I told Theo this, which implies I could even get to him without being arrested first, there’s no guarantee that he won’t tell the rest of the council - including the mole. Hell, there’s no guarantee it’s _not_ him, anyways.”

“And that’s why you stole it?” Qrow asked, disdain littering his voice. “Seems like flimsy reasoning - you could have told us.”

“No offense,” Oscar shot back, “But your team hasn’t exactly proven themselves what’d I’d call trustworthy.”

There was another brief pause. 

“Look - I know I don’t speak for everyone, but I think they really miss you.” Qrow mumbled, taking a stick of gum and popping it into his mouth. When Oscar gave him a look, Qrow simply shrugged, and said; “Pietro said it’d help with my drinking.”

“Huh.” Oscar sniffed, before continuing. “And they’ll get over it.”

“I mean it, Oscar.”

“They miss  _ Ozpin _ . Not me.” Oscar corrected. When Qrow stiffened, Oscar shook his head, flashing him a sad smile. “And I’m not mad about it, anyway. I mean, I joined the group because of Oz. It only makes sense I’d leave once he was gone.” He said, repeating what he had so often told himself. “And not to mention, I don’t think they’d appreciate having someone who tried to kill them hanging around all the time.”

“But that wasn’t you. You were being controlled.”

“Not… quite.” Qrow leaned off the balcony next to Oscar, red eyes narrowed in suspicion. “It wasn’t mind control or anything like that.”   
  


“Then what was it?”

  
  


Silence. 

  
  


“...The pools.” Oscar started. “At Salem’s castle. There’s a reason they’re called the Pools of Darkness.”

“...Go on.”

“It’s just -” Oscar threw his hands up in exasperation. “All of that anger - all of the hate - that was still  _ me _ , Qrow. It pulled the darkness out of me, sure, and made it worse, but all of that? That was all there. It still is, really,” He mumbles, before realizing his slip, and covering his mouth. 

“What do you mean, it’s still there?”

Oscar didn’t respond. 

“Oz-Oscar, is that stuff still in you -”

“ _Of course not._ ” Oscar spat. “If it was, it’d be all over my face, remember? Look,” He gestured to his face, clear of all black tar. “My face is normal, my eyes are green, Ruby fixed me, okay? End of story.”

“But -”

“I said  _ drop it. _ ” And even Oscar’s taken aback by the harshness in his tone. Qrow leans back a bit, taken back as well. 

“...Fine.” Qrow replied, tone guarded and cold. “Just… I hope you know that you guys have a warrant out for your arrest now.”

“Uh-huh.” Oscar mutters. 

“And we’re Huntsman. Next time we meet, we may have to fight.”

“Right.”

“...And you’re fine with that?”

“This is just how it is.” Oscar sighed, defeat and exhaustion seeping into his tone. 

(To Qrow, he’s acutely reminded that the kid in front of him is just fifteen.)

“...What happened to you?” Qrow mumbled. 

Oscar blinked, looking up for the first time. 

“Life, I guess.” He replied quietly. “Salem. And maybe my own decisions.”

  
  
  


When he turned around, Qrow was gone.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Hey.” The door opened, to reveal a mildly-asleep Mercury. “I heard talking. Someone out here?”

Oscar pauses. 

“Qrow.”

“He followed us?” Mercury exclaimed. 

“...He let us go.” Oscar exhales, summoning some of the confidence he had last night. “Let’s get everyone up, we should move.”

“Two steps ahead of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Discord: https://discord.gg/7fGKDJ2
> 
> youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PtaW8dTzCzlDfb76VRU9Q


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